HERE’S A PAINTING of a wealthy 17th century Dutchman. Pompous, well-fed, confident: a man wealthy enough to have his name remembered down the generations. He even paid for an ornate gilt frame.
Except no one knows who he is. But everyone knows the name of the artist. It was Rembrandt, who painted this portrait in 1679.
Merchants, business tycoons, city officials – all celebrated in their day, now forgotten. History doesn’t remember the wealthy, although it does remember the artists who were paid to capture their likeness.
